Who Were The Most Vicious Fighters In History?

There are some fighters that have more than just a propensity towards violence, these special cases become downright vicious when they put on the gloves. They literally just want to do as much damage as possible.

I watch the Sanders v Wlad fight once in a while, yesterday because Fury might end up fighting Klitschko. The Sanders fight serves as a reminder that if Wlad's chin can be got to then there is hope. Maybe Fury has long enough arms? The fight I rewatched next though and what brings me to the thread topic is Vitali v Sanders. What a brutal sustained beating that was. Even when they were touching gloves at the start the look in Vitali's face was palpable, you could see that he wanted to tear Sanders apart.

Vitali was just merciless, savage and ruthless in that fight. The man loved to fight pure and simple.

Other examples that immediately come to mind are Jack Dempsey and Mike Tyson.


I throw out the question who were the most viscous men in the sport of boxing?

TYSON PRIMED AND ANGRY!!!

Fury doesn't have the power fast hands or taking on such a naive opponent as Sanders did. Having said that he could hang in for a while and Wlad at his age could maybe be gotten too but Sanders in the opening rounds is a completely different offensive fighter to what Fury will ever be.

Tony Ayala jr was vicious.....

As he's our era, what's your views on ayala truss? As hyped so tidier as I can remember... Stories of beating up cuevas in sparring as a 14 year old etc. Clearly a nasty piece of work who spent what would have been his career behind bars... Are you of the view he'd have been special.

I remember seeing a few of his fights a whole back and he looked like a relentless chavez type, bit wild.

Thought he was top draw....Not sure he beats Hearns at 154.....But he'd have beat Moore/Duran....Mccallum would have been a great fight..

What a sorry sack of a waste of talent..

Jeff Fenech always comes to mind in this kind of category, for me. There have been harder punchers, and more skilled offensive fighters (though Fenech was still very good in those areas), but I don't know of any elite-level fighter who was able to sustain vicious, high-tempo assaults for every minute of every round the way Fenech could. His fitness and tenacity were just incredible - he had brutality on his mind for every single second he was in the ring. His wars with Zaragoza, Villasana and Nelson (first fight where he got jobbed, he lost to one of the all-time great performances in the rematch) were crazy examples of what I'm talking about, and his knockout of Payakarun was a nasty one, too.

Crazy the way he completely fell apart from the Zoomy fights onwards. Went from looking indomitable to weak as a kitten. Repeated hand troubles, physical burn out from his exhausting style and the sense of injustice of being denied the win which would have defined him against Nelson in Las Vegas just seemed to combine all at once and became too much for him. Still one of my favourite fighters to watch, though.

Zoomy had malaria for fenech 1 Chris. You've read the book!

Strange pair of fights... Each made the other look out of sorts. Fenech definitely jobbed in the first

Anthony Joshua, according to the Hearns family!

The early incarnation of Nigel Benn was savage. He just oozed menace and if he'd been able to harness/channel that aggression, he'd have been a devastatingly calculating wrecking machine as opposed to the often wild eyed manic fighter we saw.

Yep there was an edge to Benn..

Dwight Qawi could be a nasty piece of work....Had the look of someone that enjoyed beating people up...

Lee Roy Murphy and Spinks both took merciless beatings....and Qawi seemed to love every minute..

Nigel Benn was in an Army camp a few miles from were I live. He was only 17 or 18 but built a great reputation up as a street fighter and not to be messed with according to a few locals

I always preferred Eubank because Benn seemed to be one of those guys that looked like he could turn any second...

Where as Eubank is just a big kid..

I preferred Eubank when growing up, probably because my dad was a big fan. Two great fighters, normally you were a fan of one or the other but now that they are long retired I would say most are fans of the both.

It was a fantastic rivarly of contrasting characters and styles.

Preferred Eubank, didn't have the "you all owe me something" gobbyness of Benn which I couldn't stand.

In terms of viciousness.. George Foreman, nothing subtle about that brute of a guy. Beat up guys for fun. Prime Hatton for using everything but the corner stool to hit his opponents with, vicious in a kind of dirty way.

prime B-Hop

I agree Benn could give you the shivers as he walked to the ring. Benn v McClellan is probably the most tense I have ever been before a fight. You just knew violence was impending.

Naz and Terry Norris- stylists with a nasty streak.

Norris probably the most arrogant boxer of the last 30 years..

Good call.....

Buddy mcGirt wasn't very pleasant back in the day !!..

1 name people forget

TERRIBLE TIM NORRIS.

Ray Mercer was no shrinking violet.

IKE IBEABUCHI WOULD HAVE KILLED HIS OPPONENT AND ANYONE AT RINGSIDE GIVEN THE CHANCE...OR MAYBE HE WAS A LOVELY GUY

Chavez and Duran possibly too methodical but both went into every fight with the intent of inflicting as much punishment as possible. Haugen was stupid enough to urine Chavez off, at which point he decided to drag out the beating as long as possible.

Stan Ketchel was a seriously vicious man between the ropes, they really did not make them much meaner than the Michigan Assassin.

Battling Nelson was another that chewed barbed wire for fun.

There's a subtle difference between vicious and being a murderous puncher, or very aggressive, for me vicious implies that there's a it of sadism behind it, not just wanting to get the job done. Ali v Terrell is an example of vicious.

Duran

Its a tough one this. Gun to my head, carlos monzon... And he would probably readily put a gun to your head.

Tough in the ring, violent temper out if it.

The recent thread on Mickey rourke's joke fight, reminded me of a story to Warm the heart. In the early 90's, rourke's visited monzon whilst on location in Argentina, and asked him for a sparring session. This will be 15+ years after he retired. Monzon knocked him spark out very quickly. So, I guess he wasn't all bad.